5 among the lesser known places of the holy land

What is this Holy Land?

The term Holy Land indicates a specific area of the Middle East that includes all the places where the events of the Bible occured; in this area two of the three great monotheistic religions were born: Judaism and Christianity. It does have a strong meaning for Islam as well though as the Koran reports. It is called “Holy” precisely for this reason: for centuries it has been the land of prophets and saints. But above all the term is mostly used by Christians since the earthly life of Jesus took place here and Jesus is “The Holy” par excellence.

Currently, it includes various states that have acquired different territorial boundaries according to the historical and political events that characterize them.

Here is a geographical map of the Holy Land today:

It includes: -

Israel and Palestine: for Jews and Christians the most important Holy Places are here. Jews consider this region the Promised Land, a land God assured to the prophets, to Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Jacob and their descendants. The area was once occupied by the 12 tribes of Israel and the land was divided in 12 different regions. Christians are linked to this history of faith that is accomplished with the advent of Jesus. Therefore they make pilgrimages to the Holy Land to visit the places of Jesus' life in particular. Muslims are linked to the tradition of the prophets as well and recognize the importance of this Land, above all because also Muhammad, their prophet, has been 1

here. For all these faithful the most important place in the Holy Land is Jerusalem, the Holy City (in Hebrew Yerushalayim "Legacy of Peace", in Arabic AlQuds "the Holy [city]").

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Jordan: the western part is also connected to episodes of the Old and the New Testament. The name derives from its western border, bordered by the Jordan river, where John the Baptist preached and where Jesus was baptized. Jews, fleeing from Egypt, saw the Promised Land from here for the first time. They were led by Moses who never trespassed the Jordan river but died soon after spotting the “Land flowing with milk and honey�.

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Sinai desert: It is part of Egypt today. the Old Testament, in particular the book of Exodus, tells about the life of the Jews in this desert for 40 years after they escaped the persecution of the Egyptian Pharaoh. The most important place in the desert is Mt. Sinai: here God gave Moses the tablets on stone with the Ten Commandments.

With the first Christian preaching the area known as Holy Land also included Syria, Lebanon, and some Greek islands such as Cyprus, Rhodes and Kos where St. Paul and the first apostles brought the Good News. Even these, although less known, are part of the area called the Holy Land.

A multicultural and multi-religious mosaic The considered area is pretty wide, but if we compare it with other countries in the world, there is a larger concentration of people living closely toghether with several different cultures, religions and confessions.

Moreover, as in the rest of the Middle East, here the religious aspect often coincides with the cultural and political ones.

There is no clear distinction between State and religion as in Europe. Many times this has led to an increase of conflicts, even if there have always been exemplary episodes of sharing and ecumenism.

If we consider the Palestinian Territories and Israel we will see that there is a great concentration of differences in an area that is 0.17 times as wide as England while North America is 1,120 times wider. In such small area, toghether with the three great monotheistic religions, we find at least three more: 2

Samaritans, Druze and Baha’i. In addition, all these religions have different streams and confessions in them.

Jews living in Israel are about 7 million people (43% of the world Jewish population) and are mainly identified in two large groups, depending on their places of origin after the diaspora: the Sephardim, originally from Spain then migrated to North Africa and the Ashkenazi, from Eastern Europe.

Muslims are around 1 million and 400 thousand in Israel and more than 2 million in the Palestinian Territories. They belong to two large groups, Shiites and Sunnis, although the majority are Sunnis. In both cases the differences are mainly due to historical and geographical reasons or to the different interpretations of the scriptures.

Local Christians are a minority, about 1% of the total population and are divided into a dozen different confessions. The Christian churches are multicultural from the origins in creed and belief, also beacuse of reasons of differences in language, history and geographical location.

Once the former Custos of the Holy Land Pierbattista Pizzaballa gave a clear definition of the relationship between the various confessions by comparing Jerusalem to a “huge multi-storey block” where the dynamics of life are the same as the ones between nighbours.

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The Churches are subdivided in: -

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Oriental Churches, which include Ancient Oriental Churches (Assyrian, Syriac Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox), the Orthodox Churches (Greek and Russian) and the Oriental Catholic Churches also known as “Uniate” (Maronites, Armenian Catholic, Greek Catholic etc.).

Reformed Churches, in particular the Anglican, Evangelist and Lutheran.

Latin Church, which refers to the community that celebrates according to “Latin” Rite or Roman Rite. This church corresponds to the one known in the West as “Roman Catholic Church”. The Latin Church in the Holy Land has been represented by the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land for centuries.

We often hear about contrasts and division between all these realities, but it’s important to underline that they also reflect the multiform declinations of the Christian Good News. All these differences in fact converge into a single point, which is the Holy Land, because they find their unity of faith in the Holy Places of the life of Christ.

The Holy Places and the Custody of the Holy Land The various confessions are more or less present in the most important Holy Places of the Christian faith, mainly the Greek Orthodox, the Latins and the Armenians. Even in this case, however, given the multiformity of expressions and traditions, in some cases there are differences in the geographical location of events and Places. In fact, Christ lived on earth more than 2,000 years ago and given the historical events and the various changes or movements that have occurred here, it is not always possible to identify the exact location.

We must also add that in addition to the canonical Gospels, there are other written or unwritten sources and traditions that immediately flourished around the life of Jesus, Mary, his mother and the apostles.

There is a common agreement on a few Holy Places that are found mainly in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born and where the shepherds received announcement from the Angels, and in Jerusalem, the place where Jesus' earthly life ended, where he died and resurrected. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world and of different confessions gather in them everyday to pray.

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The Latin Church is mainly represented by the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land who have been in this land for eight centuries to preserve the Holy Places and make them accessible to pilgrims. The "sons of St. Francis" are present in many shrines that recall episodes and details of the life of Jesus. The franciscans are present:   

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in Nazareth, where the Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary; in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born; in Jericho, where Jesus fasted for fourty days and fourty nights and near to the place where he was baptized; in Capernaum, on the Sea of Galielee, the city of Peter one of the first disciples of Jesus, here Jesus started his preaching; in Bethany, the town of some of Jesus’ best friends: Martha, Mary and Lazarus; in Jerusalem, in the Holy Sepulcher Basilica where the empty tomb of Jesus is preserved and in several other sanctuaries in the city; in Tabgha and in Emmaus, where Jesus appeared to the disciples after his Resurrection.

These are some of the most known, but there are plenty more that are linked to the unwritten tradition and are less known.

5 places in the Holy Land you would never expect Vediamo ora alcuni luoghi tra i più particolari e tra i meno conosciuti di questa terra dalle mille sorprese.

Sono luoghi che si ispirano ai fatti evangelici, dove spesso la tradizione popolare si inserisce intervenendo su interrogativi, episodi e particolari sui quali invece i testi del Nuovo Testamento non sono esaustivi. Qui ne elenchiamo cinque di proprietà dei francescani o legati in qualche modo alla Custodia di Terra Santa.

We are now going to introduce some of the most particular and least known places in this land. These are places that are inspired by Gospel events but are enriched with popular traditions that introduce episodes and details for which the texts of the New Testament are not exhaustive. Here we list five of them that are in some way linked to the Custody of the Holy Land. 

BETHLEHEM – THE MILK GROTTO The Milk Grotto is located on the eastern part of the Basilica of the Nativity. In Arabici t is called Magharet Sitti Mariam, which means the "cave of the Lady Mary". The place can be reached along a road that continues along the south side of the Basilica coming from the central square of Bethlehem.

According to a legend of the VI century the Virgin Mary hid in this grotto to escape the persecutors 5

sent by Herod during the Massacre of the Innocents. St. Joseph, having been warned by an Angel about the danger, immediately started to get ready to flee to Egypt. Meanwhile Mary was breastfeeding and in the rush a few drops of milk fell on the ground turning the rock of the cave from pink to white.

Since then, according to a belief of the VI century, the rock of the cave has healing properties. The space, which contains three different caves, is visited by some in hope of healing infertile couples, the shrine allegedly being a place where prayers for children are miraculously answered. From then until today this tradition continues both among local Christians, but also Muslims, and among the pilgrims who visit it.

Those who visit usually take away as a relic a sack of white powder that can be removed easily from the rock to deliver it to friends or relatives in need.

The Milk Grotto is owned by the Custody of the Holy Land and its maintenance is entrusted to the Franciscans, but there is also a monastery of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament attached to the chapel.  AIN KAREM – THE ROCK THAT SAVED JOHN THE BAPTIST AND HIS MOTHER Ain Karem is an ancient village of the Jerusalem District and now a neighbourhood in southwest Jerusalem. There are three shrines of the Custody of the Holy Land linked to the birth and childhood of St. St. Jhon the Baptist, that can be found here: the church of St. John the Baptist, the church of the Visitation, and the hermitage of St. John in the Desert.

The Gospel, not from a precise geographical location, speaks only of a city that rises "in the Judeaan hills".

In that town, there was the home of Zachariah and Elizabeth, his parents. According to tradition, the house was located in the area where today stands the Sanctuary of the Visitation.

Here Mary the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth met and here Our Lady pronounced the Magnificat for the first time. All this is reported in the Gospels.

There is also an unknown tradition here that recalls the episode of the hiding of John the Baptist and his mother from the soldiers of Herod during the Massacre of the innocents. The episode is narrated in the apocryphal Gospel of James of the second century AD. According to the story, Elisabeth was running away from the persecutors with St. John, but since she was tired, she asked the mountain to open up to hide them and this is what exactly happened.

St. John and his mother had to remain hidden in the mountain until Herod’s death, with an Angel taking care of them. Today it is still possible to see the rock that welcomed them, preserved in the sanctuary of the Visitation; a Latin inscription above the rock reports: "It is said that Elizabeth and John were hidden in this stone".

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 JERUSALEM – THE TOMB OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE KIDRON VALLEY A valley in the eastern part of Jerusalem separates the Holy City from the Mount of Olives and is called the Kidron Valley.The valley is also called the valley of Giosafat (in Hebrew "The Lord has judged") because here the, Judgment Day will take place here, according to the scriptures. For this reason the whole area around the valley and especially the coast of the mountain, have been a cemetery area since ancient times.

Among the many tombs there is one of great importance: the tomb of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The church is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, and is now owned by the Greek Orthodox, although in the past it was a sanctuary of the Custody of the Holy Land.

The place is special because it commemorates an event that is not mentioned neither in the Gospels nor in the Acts of the Apostles. In fact, after Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and the Virgin Mary gathered in prayer, no mention is made of Our Lady.

Only an apocryphal book, De Transitu Virginis, speaks about Mary's tomb in the valley of Giosafat. The book contains many questionable symbolic elements but it also testifies that the area was already a place of worship since the II century AD. According to the Transitu, the Virgin Mary fell into a deep sleep (Dormition), and was then brought from Mount Zion (the place where the apostles used to meet in the Cenacle) to the Kidron Valley and was laid on a rock inside a cave. From this place She was assumed into heaven in body and soul.

Later, the Virgin's tomb was transformed into a rock church (IV century). The memory of the place was preserved above all by the faith and devotion of the faithful who celebrated the memory of the transit and Assumption of Our Lady. The feast fell on August 15th (Mid-August) till today.

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JERUSALEM – THE GROTTO OF THE BETRAYAL The cave is located in an area commonly known as Gethsemane, which in Aramaic indicated the place of the mill. It is on right next to the Tomb of the Virgin and opens at the end of a corridor. A IV century tradition locates the betrayal of Judas here.

The episode is narrated in the Gospels but does not identify a specific place. We are only told that Jesus left the disciples "about a stone throw away" from the Garden of Olives, where he had retired in solitude and prayer before his condemnation.

According to the tradition the place is exactly the same place where Jesus and the disciples used to meet usually. This is why Judas, who had left the group before the Last Supper, knew exactly where he could find the Master and the apostles.

SAMARIA – THE TOMB OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST IN SABASTIYA This is for sure the least known place among the ones seen so far. In our days Sabastiya is a small town of a few thousand people, but once it was a great city and an important destination for pilgrimages. The reason is that a strong tradition locates the tomb of St. John the Baptist here. Actually it is the only place where a fourth-century tradition identifies the burial place of the last prophet before Jesus.

From the Gospels we know that the Baptist was beheaded by king Herod Antipas because of Herodias, the king’s illegitimate wife. After his beheading we only told that of St. John’s disciples took the body and "brought it away to hide him", so that it would not be desacrated.

Since the Gospels tell us no more about it, the tradition identified the burial place in Sabastiya for two reasons: 1. Sabastiya was the capital of the North rebuilt by Herod the Great according to the Roman style and in honor of Caesar Augustus. Yet after his death the city was no longer under the jurisdiction of his son, namely Herod Antipas who had lost dominion over the Samaria region. This is why the sovereign and his wife could not find him there.

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2. Before the Roman advent the city was the capital of Samaria, the Northern Kingdom. The north and south had split soon after king Solomon’s death in 933 BC. After the split the Samaritans had converted to a new pagan worship brought by the Phoenicians. This is why in the Old Testament we are told that many prophets were sent by God to convert them back to Judaism. Elijah and Elisha are the most famous among the prophets that preached in this region. According to the Scriptures some of these prophets (a part from Elijah) were therefore buried here. John the Baptist is the last of the prophets and therefore deserved a place together with others.

The crypt with an empty tomb today is part of a complex where a mosque stands. Saint John the Baptist is in fact also revered by Muslims.

This miniguide describes some of the Holy Places where the Association pro Terra Sancta (ATS) supports works for restoration and maintainance and the local communities living next to them.

Association pro Terra Sancta To foster bonds between the Holy Land and the world ATS pro Terra Sancta is a non-profit organization that carries out projects to preserve the Holy Places, support local communities and bring aid in humanitarian emergencies.

We are present in the Middle East, wherever the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land are.

Participating to the work of the Association pro Terra Sancta means to love the Holy Land in places and people. It means living a lasting bond with the Holy Places and the ancient Christian communities, getting involved with all their religious, cultural and social aspects.

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